The discussion of any work, publications, sales, or activity anywhere in this submission, including in any documents submitted with this application, shall not be taken as an admission that any such work constitutes prior art. The discussion of any activity, work, or publication herein is not an admission that such activity, work, or publication existed or was known in any particular jurisdiction.
Many fields of human endeavor, both biological and non-biological, would benefit from more precise manipulation of very small structures. Consider the nervous system. Injury may occur to the central nervous system (CNS), consisting of the eyes, brain, and spinal cord, or the peripheral nervous system (PNS), consisting of nerves to arms, legs and internal organs. In humans and other mammalian species, injuries to CNS axon pathways can have extremely severe consequences such as paraplegia or tetraplegia. Peripheral nerve injury can also lead to severe sensory motor disability for extended periods that often only result in partial recovery.
As one example of the need for very small scale manipulation, currently, there is no specific therapeutic treatment for nerve injuries in either the CNS or PNS. Conventional research strategies call for the regeneration of axons from the site of injury to reestablish contacts with post-synaptic targets and thereby obtain functional recovery. Despite much research effort, the complexities of the cellular and molecular mechanisms required for adult axon regeneration have proven to be significant impediments to this approach.
A number of patents and publications discuss various MEMS devices and manufacturing techniques thereby. Some of these are listed below. This list is not intended to suggest that any search has been performed and is not exhaustive. These patents and their incorporated documents are incorporated herein by reference to provide background information and for any other purposes.
PatentTitleU.S. Pat. No. 6,125,007Membrane seal secured to inner and outeroscillating bearing members for smallangle oscillations within confined axial spaceU.S. Pat. No. 6,106,751Method for Fabrication needlesvia conformaldeposition in two-piece moldsU.S. Pat. No. 6,015,599High Vertical Aspect Ratio ThinFilm Structures for immunological isolation ofcell transplantsU.S. Pat. No. 5,948,255Microfabricated thin film particle filter andmethods of making itU.S. Pat. No. 5,893,974Microfabricated capsules for immunologicalisolation of cell transplantsU.S. Pat. No. 5,651,900Microfabricated particle filterU.S. Pat. No. 5,416,657Seal for bearings in small angleoscillation applicationsU.S. Pat. No. 5,645,684Multilayer high vertical aspect ratiothin film structures